Meteorologists predict light snow will arrive in Maryland late Saturday and continue into Sunday, bringing several inches of total accumulation.

The weather service predicted a total of 2 inches to 4 inches across most of Central Maryland, with amounts on the lower end of that range expected north and east of Baltimore, and the higher amounts to the south and west. As much as 6 inches is forecast in Southern Maryland, where a winter storm warning is in effect Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s not going to be the blizzard of 2016,” said Chris Strong, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Baltimore/Washington forecast office. “It’s just not that kind of system.”

The snow is expected to arrive by Saturday afternoon or evening, becoming most intense Sunday morning and tapering off by Sunday afternoon. A winter weather advisory is in effect for the Baltimore region from 7 p.m. Saturday through 10 a.m. Sunday.

There was significant agreement among forecasters in those predictions, though Foot’s Forecast suggested as much as a 40 percent chance that some areas could get as much as 7 inches of snow. The forecast could be adjusted as the system approaches.

How much snow will we get? Here's what the National Weather service is predicting.

It was moving through the Plains and Midwest states Friday, expected to bring snow from Kansas to Ohio. It was forecast to move into the Southeast on Saturday and transfer its energy to a low-pressure system moving up the Atlantic coast Sunday.

State Highway Administration officials said they were pre-treating major roads around the state Friday and Saturday with a salt brine spray that could help prevent or delay snow from accumulating on pavement. And they were also readying plows and other snow removal equipment to put in action once snowfall began, especially in Southern Maryland and on the lower Eastern Shore.

Gov. Larry Hogan urged residents to stay off roads during the storm and to heed all warnings from the weather service or other public safety agencies.

“As we prepare for this winter weather, I urge all Marylanders to use common sense and take all necessary precautions,” he said in a statement.

The storm’s heaviest accumulation is forecast along the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia and Virginia. Northern counties in those states are under a winter storm warning from early Saturday through Sunday afternoon. As much as 8 inches of snow was forecast in those areas.

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AccuWeather.com meteorologists said cold air from the north was forecast to keep conditions plenty cold for snow, but they said the air could be too dry for snow to extend farther north than the Interstate 80 corridor across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

In Maryland, temperatures are expected to remain low through the weekend. Highs are forecast in the lower 30s, with lows in the 20s.

Temperatures are forecast to remain in the 20s and 30s into early next week.

There has been 1.4 inches of snow this season at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the Baltimore region’s point of record. All of that came in November. There was not even a trace of December snow here for the first time since 2001, according to weather service statistics.

The weather service meteorologists tracking the storms across the country are working without pay during the government shutdown, but expect to be paid retroactively once the budget impasse is resolved.